Logs:Beyond Help
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| RL Date: 29 June, 2014 |
| Who: Aishani, Jyani, Valenros |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Aishani gets Valenros to talk to Jyani about being a Holder. Jyani is possibly beyond Ros' help. |
| Where: Nighthearth, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 14, Month 2, Turn 35 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: Heavy rain in the middle of winter only means that the temperature is only a few degrees above freezing; it's more miserable for the soaking torrents. |
| Mentions: N'rov/Mentions |
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| Nighthearth, High Reaches Weyr With its entrance located between the kitchen and the living cavern, this tiny bubble cavern is cozy, always kept warm and is filled with comfortable chairs and a small round table. At the far end, there's a hearth, outlined in ruddy, aging bricks, where a pot of stew simmers in the evening hours. Generally quiet, the nighthearth is the haunt of insomniacs and those seeking quiet from the bustle of daily Weyr life. Torrential downpours make for a good day to hide indoors -- and many people are taking the opportunity to do just that, particularly near the warmth of the hearths, if they can. Those that have no choice in the matter are candidates, given their work is their work, regardless of snow or sleet or etcetera, so Valenros might consider himself lucky to be summoned to the nighthearth by the weyrwoman. Aishani is apparently the weyrwoman in question, seated at a table by the fire with a mug in front of her and a younger woman beside her, with some resemblances around the eyes, the long limbs -- though where the goldrider is calm, the teenager can barely sit still. In fact, she's out of her seat in no time, examining something above the hearth with interest. Nighttime assignations - they're the stuff of legends. Valenros looks anything but legendary, in dusty pants and a shirt with stains spotting the front. He looks harrowed, his cheeks flushed and his hair mussed. "Weyrwoman," he says by way of greeting, stepping into the light cast from the hearth flames. His brown eyes search for her cousin, finding that one closer to the hearth. Coming closer, he clears his throat, "This is.. this is about..?" But they both already know what this is about, his curiosity getting the best of him again, gaze coming to rest on the young girl. "I'm.. I'm sor.. sorry if I kept.. you, ah, waiting." That's a genuine apology there, his hands clasping as he stands at attention, waiting for the next instruction. When he enters the space, they both turn, almost at the same time. It might be a little creepy. But where the goldrider merely seems expectant, the younger girl has a quick, bright smile. The cousin is still growing, but getting to her full height, maybe fifteen or sixteen, with dark eyes and a cloud of curly brown hair. Nodding to Valenros, Aishani offers, "Good evening. I'm sorry I didn't speak to you about this earlier, but given you were searched - and congratulations - I thought it best for things to settle first." Flickering a look back to the hearth, the girl there, "This is Jyani. Jyani, Valenros. Who you're meant to be nice to." There's a low warning note there, but Jyani makes a dismissive noise as she moves forward, offers a hand. "I'm always nice," the girl tells him. "Hi." Creepy, maybe. Valenros shifts uncomfortably, from his own awkwardness and having all eyes on him than anything else. "Good evening.. yes.. ah, yes, thank you. It was.. it was unexpected." And embarrassing, but he's sure she's heard by now. "Jyani, who's always nice - hi." His own right hand clasps hers and gives it a solid shake, before both hands are hidden away in his pockets. "I'm.. Valenros. You can.. call me Ros. It's.. it's easier." A timid grin is offered the girl. "I'm supposed to be teaching you all about.. Holds.." as he looks around Jyani, to Aishani, to confirm his own statements. Amused, "It tends to be, unless you plan for it. People can ask to stand." Aishani's lips quirk into something close to a smile before, "It's easier to be asked, I suppose. A dragon might put a bit of an honor-and-duty thing to it, not that we fight thread. Anyway." As Jyani shakes Valenros' hand firmly, she looks bored by dragon-talk. Narrowing her eyes curiously at the name, "Is it easier, or is it what you like?" Meanwhile, the goldrider has risen from her seat, waving a hand in the candidate's direction. "What it's like to live there, how people think," Aishani clarifies. "She knows what she doesn't know. I'm going to the kitchen." Her tone implies that's where she'll be if either of them have issues, but otherwise... he's left with Jyani, who asks suddenly after, "Do you know anything about Vijays?" "Yes, but I.. I never planned, for.. this, to happen." Valenros looks vaguely disturbed by his own words, then his brown eyes snap to Jyani again and all the talk about dragons is forgotten. "Both? Easier.. and.. I prefer it to my full name." Because it 'is' a mouthful. His eyes follow the exit of the goldrider - indeed, he might look a little beseeching, as in "don't leave me with her" but then she's gone. "V.. Vijays? The traders?" His brow knits as he considers her question. "Nothing.. solid, just a lot of gossip about some of the shady things.. they do. Why? Did she.. did she say I was supposed to teach you that?" Cue blanching. Jyani's not looking all that thrilled to be left to it either, but she looks from where her cousin's gone off to organize things for the next day's meals, back to Valenros with a little nod. "I just wanted to check. About the name thing. Some people just let people call them whatever, and Shani thinks some nicknames are just sort of disrespectful. She has this issue with dragons." She just shakes her head before she has to laugh at the blanching, despite some little annoyance surfacing for 'shady'. "I guess you didn't hear she's one... I'm one? That's our family?" "I don't.. why would a weyrwoman have an issue with dragons?" Valenros looks at Jyani disapprovingly. They're off to a great start. "I don't think that's right." There's a bit of conviction in his voice, as if he knows her cousin better than she does. "You're.. you're.." How embarrassing! His cheeks flush again, but he gives Jyani an up-and-down, as if taking her measure. "I didn't.. I didn't know.. still, you have to know what they say about.. about Vijays, even if you are.. even if she is." He stops there, hunching his shoulders and looking anywhere else. "No, she has some issue with dragon nicknames, like even if a dragon has a nickname, she won't use it." Jyani's very good at explaining things to other people like they're idiots; her cousin's condescension without a leash. And to Valenros' eyes, she probably looks like a perfectly normal girl, not like she has knives or lock picks hidden away at all. Brows lifting, "Almost everyone usually knows, is all. It's kind of... it was a thing. And we know what they say. I do. It's no big deal--" Lies. "It's just... why I didn't spend a lot of time around Holds? We didn't spend a lot of time much of anywhere." Valenros is still avoiding looking at Jyani, and clears his throat before saying, "Well, that's.. probably best. Holds don't regard you.. highly." Weak, weak, weak. Still, he's got his eyes up and on the young Vijay by now. "Holds have a.. a certain structure. You follow the rules. There's no rule breaking. If there is, well, there's punishment." His tone suggests the Vijays wouldn't do well in that type of environment - stereotypes, they're a real thing. "Let's start with.. what 'do' you know? The basics? The names? Who is who? How to act?" A little less stumbling and stuttering makes him sound more reasonable, more polished and a lot less.. weird. Jyani ducks her head and moves to put herself directly in Valenros' line of vision, attempting to make a scary face, her hands claws. "Are you... afraid?" She drops it pretty quickly, tilting her head and straightening as he looks up at her again. "Yeah, Shani said that. She lived at Crom before here, to build her cover." Now that said cover is blown, what does it matter if she talks about it? "But not to-the-mines type punishment, or hanging-outside-the-Weyr punishment. I know all about that." Her grin sharp, she shrugs in a typically teenage way. Whatever. "I know the things you can read about. It's just... how to act, how to deal with people. How much I can get away with, given I don't know any better." An eyeroll, before she goes to sit at the table. What is meant to be scary - or a pretense of scary - makes Valenros give her the side-eye. "No. I'm not." He shoves his hands deeper into his pockets and shrugs his own shoulders. "I don't know if I can teach you to be a lady. You seem.. ah, a little beyond.. my help." Insults here, insults there, but he doesn't look particularly menacing. "Holders are typically more.. um, polite, than you seem to be capable of. Manners. Look straight, talk clear, try not to insult anyone intentionally. Can you sit properly?" He gestures to the nearby chair vacated by her cousin. "You certainly can't go around making faces at people and pretending to have talons." Wrinkling her nose, "I don't have to be a lady to talk to them, do I? Like, I thought they didn't expect much out of barbarian traders?" Jyani doesn't say that like she takes offense, but like it might be an angle of which she can take advantage. With a sigh, pushing back any wayward curls, she glances towards the kitchens, then tries on a conciliatory tone. "I can be polite... just... well. I haven't had much use for it lately. Seriously. Have you heard how people talk around here?" She gives Ros an incredulous look - she's quite serious on that - and then, again, in the spirit of making things work, she goes to sit in Aishani's chair with an eerie imitation of the older woman, down to smartly crossed legs. So there. "They don't.. expect much. You're proving them right." Valenros relaxes enough to smile a little, brief though it is. "Maybe your cousin is trying to.. prove them wrong?" He shrugs again, his awkwardness for once becoming a shade of alertness. "I have.. and, you're right, they're not.. not like Holders. They're rough and bold and careless. But we're here to discuss Holders, right?" After accessing her proper 'sit', he moves to seat himself as well. "It's more than that. You can't just say whatever is on your mind. You have to be polite and decent, you shouldn't go around stealing or bad mouthing people or running around nude." This last bit elicits a blush - apparently, you shouldn't talk about being nude either. With a grin, "No... I think this..." Jyani begins to look a little melancholy. "I think they might want me to go back to the caravan, to help out. She..." The girl's gaze flickers back to the kitchen again before she just leaves it at: "People don't want to be proven wrong. And some of them are disgusting." Around the Weyr, she probably means, not just all people in general. A bit offended, "Well, traders aren't weyrfolk. We don't go running around naked all the time." Not that she's blushing, and never mind the other stuff. "So you, you're a Holder. You want to buy from someone you can have tea with and talk about the weather before talking numbers?" Valenros lets that soak in for a moment, then shrugs. "Your cousin said people can ask.. to be Searched. If you don't want to go back, then don't." All this from someone so hidebound. "There are lots of disgusting people everywhere. Even in Holds. But most, ah, are polite. Respectful." He listens carefully, expression mostly blank, until it transforms into disbelief. "Absolutely. Why would I deal with someone who wasn't? You show me what you can give me before I show you what I can give you. I want a 'partner' in trading, in deals," he says, as if someone with authority and experience in such matters. "Would you just give over your marks to some idiot on the road?" Really now. How absurd. At that suggestion, Jyani is dubious. "I... I don't know if I want to go that far about the whole... dragon thing. My family has some issues with dragons, like literally with dragons this time. I love Iesaryth, and I like Vhaeryth a lot, but..." A pause, then suddenly, quickly, "Not that I think it's a bad idea to stand. Congratulations and all of that, really." As for disgustingness, wry, "Isn't that the truth." Though Valenros' response has her blinking a few times for all that she's listening. "Um... well. You might if you really needed something they were selling. Or liked it." But, seeing the light, "If you felt like someone was a partner, then you might ask for something difficult to find." Interesting. "Thanks. I'm not sure about it.. uh, myself, but, it couldn't hurt to try? Who says you'll even Impress. It's one way to keep from going where you don't want to though." Valenros shifts in his seat, crossing an ankle on the opposite knee. "I would never need anything that badly to deal with someone without basic manners. Maybe.. poor holders would. Small craftsmen. But if you want to impress the Holders and the Lords, you need to have the basics down. Got to be polite and sometimes, you have to be able to let them put you in your place." If you know what he means.. subservient. "It's about the foot work. Tea and cakes, and big business, or do you want to walk away with nothing?" "But are you okay with it if you do? I don't know, I've seen people totally believe it's not going to happen and end up with a dragon." Not that Jyani makes that sound like a bad thing, but it's definitely something she's not ready for. As for needing things so badly as to lack manners, she gives a little smirk. "You'd be surprised," she tells him, "Trust me. And 'in your place', huh? That sure explains a few things." Her eyes stray to the kitchen again before she looks back to her new 'instructor', thoughtful. "Is that how things work where you're from?" "I would.. be ok. I think. It would be different than.. my life, now, but.. for the better." Valenros says it likes he's 'not' sure, his forehead wrinkling with thought lines. "All I'm saying is.. you won't catch any fish with salt." Because there's plenty of salt in the sea! No, really, he looks serious, and then confused as she pose a question to him. "Yeah. That's how it is for a lot of holders. I probably had it better than some. You do what you're told to do. It's easier that way." Easier for whom, easier why - well, he doesn't answer that, just falls into silence staring into the hearth fire. Making an effort to be encouraging - it seems in her nature - Jyani tells Valenros, "Most people who impress seem pretty happy with it. Don't use Aishani as a measure for that. She's never happy with much of anything." Another one of her eyerolls. It's likely an exaggeration. Following his gaze to the fire, she shrugs. "Well. It's not like people get to do whatever they want here either. Or with the caravan. There's always some stupid work that sucks." Given she's saying that, she's probably not slotting this in with the stupid work at least? "Do you want to do more of this later? I should probably kind of... think about this and reread things. See if I have questions." Valenros gives Jyani another of those disapproving looks. "I haven't seen the weyrwoman as anything but happy with her station in life." Then, he doesn't know her that well. He drops his leg and brushes off the front of his pants as best as he can. "As you will. Let your cousin know I did my best. We can go over more detail another time. I don't think.." He frowns. "That we accomplished much this time." Brown eyes brush over the young woman one last time before he stands. "You should know where to find me. If you don't.. ah, your cousin does." Again, Jyani has to laugh as she pushes out of her chair with a little bounce. "Oh, wow. Okay." If that's what he thinks. She grins over at Valenros with a nod, promising, "I definitely will. And it's okay. I think she mostly wanted to see if you'd put up with me." Or perhaps vice versa at the same time. Tilting her head, she considers the candidate for a moment before, "I can find most people. Thank you for the time. Maybe if there's things you want to know, I can tell you next time." And with that, she's off to the kitchen, quick to report in so she can get back to whatever it is she does the rest of the time. |
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